negotiating issues around the fiscal cliff. we think it is really important that they get something done because, obviously, if tax rates go up on middle-class americans come next month, it will be bad for those middle-class americans, it is will be bad for our states, and we're concerned about both the fiscal side and the economic growth side. >> susie: so talk to us a little bit about what kind of deal you would like to see. what were you proposing to the president? >> let's put it this way, if money is just shifted from the federal government to the states, that's not really saving anything. and the president understands that. we think it is really important. recognizing if there are cuts in funds, there ought to be a corresponding reduction in some of the requirements that are put on the states. so we really, as much as anything else, wanted to make sure that our voices are heard and that as decisions are made, whether it is about taxes, whether it is about spending cuts, that they be done equitably and with our input. >> susie: your state is headquarters to many large american companies. and if their taxes go up, which everybody is expecting, what wou

goes over the fiscal cliff. the two sides appear close to an agreement on little things. it could lead to higher airline ticket prices and no more mail delivery on saturday. >> oh, boy. susan mcginnis in washington this morning. susan, thank you so much. one of the tax breaks due to expire next month is the payroll tax. that's the tax listed on your pay stub as fica. the money you pay into social security and medicare. it was reduced by two percentage points during the recession. jim axelrod has more. >> reporter: the payroll tax cut has given this family an extra $70 a month to spend. john is a maintenance man in jersey city, new jersey. >> are you paying any attention to what's going on in washington right now? >> of course. >> reporter: their $50,000 a year income put them almost exactly in the middle of the american household. if it's not extended those $1,035 more. >> do you have room to cut back? >> no. >> reporter: if the tax cut expires paycheck contributions will go from 4.2% to 6.2%. that's $115 billion a year that would go to deficit reduction instead of being pumped in

fiscal cliff, with just 27 days to go and less for the official congressional session. president obama and john boehner making comments on the issue a short time ago and according to our deal meter, there it is, still only a quarter of the way there. we have got all sides of this story covered. john harwood live at the white house. eamon javers on capitol hill and the president's comments. >> the president gave an interview to our colleagues at bloomberg and said a couple of things. first of all, his priorities now trying to break republicans in their resistance to raising the top rate by some amount, a stance republicans have been consistent on. more revenue, question, not higher rates, he is insisting on that as the price of negotiating with him. and he said the reason for that is if you take all of what can be raised in revenue from deductions that is politically realistic, not trying to take away the mortgage deduction in the face of tremendous resistance from consumers and the housing industry, you can only raise about 300 to $400 billion, but i think that is a promising ind

it has been called the fiscal cliff. our coverage starts on the white house lawn tonight with major garrett. major. >> reporter: scott, the saesident said for the first time, there is a two-step process to averting the fiscal cliff. republicans must act now to prevent a tax increase for households earning less than $250,000. do that now, president obama said, and he and congress can work out the details of spending cuts later. ( applause ) before a crowd of supporters, the white house invited from the mid-atlantic region, president obama put congressional republicans on notice. >> it's too important for washington to screw this up. now is the time for us to work on what we all agreed to, which is lets keep middle class taxes low. that's what our economy needs. that's what the american people deserve. gd if we get this part of it right, then a lot of the other issues surrounding deficit reduction in a fair and balanced, responsible way are going to be a whole lot easier. >> reporter: white house officials say mr. obama is not interested in personally meeting with congressional republ

line. man this is tough. >> it is. please don't make me say "fiscal cliff" again. the two words. all i talk about. >> eric: we had predictions that they will come to a deal. it's political jockeying now. >> that is what we are hoping for. >> eric: that is what all americans want. >> jamie: three words. fasten your seat belt. new report that the aging infrastructure may have played a role in freight train derailment in new jersey. truly tragic. seven cars jumping the tracks while the train was crossing a bridge. the problem is it was carrying hazardous chemicals in the air. live in the new york news room. i know there were evacuations. did the folks get go back home? >> the national transportation safety board saying the conductor with con-raid since 2008. worked the accident route previously but this was his first week back on it. the ntsb pointed to a faulty traffic signal for causing friday bridge collapse. train derailment and the toxic chemical release that caused the health problem for residents in pollsborough, new jersey. >> they are going to work the point of derailment and the bridge signal and track inspection records. they will look at the movable bridge and locking mechanism on the movable bridge. the coast guard is collecting water samples and sa

the plans to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. treasury secretary tim geithner says the administration will allow the nation to be slammed by tax hikes and spending cuts in the new year if the republicans do not agree to raise taxes on wealthy americans. the gop slammed geithner's comments as, quote, irresponsible. >>> a new york city homeless man has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a man pushed in front of a subway train. 30-year-old naeem davis being held without bail. he has several prior arrests and served two years in prison for robbery. on wednesday, the victim's family spoke out. his daughter said she wishes someone would've helped her father off the tracks, but said, quote, what's done is done. >>> a candle light vigil in evansdale, iowa. on wednesday, hunters discovered two bodies that are believed to be missing cousins 11-year-old lyric cook and 9-year-old elizabeth collins. they were last seen in july. they disappeared while riding their bikes. >>> kate, the duchess of cambridge has left the hospital this morning, the pregnant wife of prince william had been receiving treatment since monday for a rare form of extreme morning sickness. kate now heads to kensington palace to rest. >>> and a new study out of

fiscal cliff. majority whip senator dick durbin spoke about bipartisan negotiations to try to avoid the fiscal cliff at an event earlier this week at the center for american progress. we will show you as much of this as we can into the senate gavels in at 9:30 a.m. >> we are thrilled to have senator durbin to talk about his views on the fiscal cliff, and the framework. i think as we engage in this debate i just want to let a few things that are critical. as washington becomes obsessed with this issue. first and foremost, i think it will have consequences and that cap we have argued that the issues that are really framing the fiscal debate and fiscal cliff are ones that were actually dictated in the election context. the president didn't have one set of complications, and a second set now. really there was a thread going through the debates as was happening to add that thread was about having a balanced plan that addressed america's fiscal challenges. acknowledged there were serious fiscal challenges that we do need long-term, deficit reduction. that's important for america's credibility, and it's important for america's economy and economic growth. that plan has t

. then, despite the looming fiscal cliff, americans are focused as we say on that to do list. what do you consider are the most pressing economic issues facing the united states today, jobs and unemployment, far and away, number one, 30%, followed by government spending, the budget deficit, and then back the wages at 11%. 41% saying he their wages or unemployment and then you see the government spending peace. if you look at how this breaks out by republican, democrat, independent, independent and democrats rank jobs higher than wages, and if you look at republics, they rank spending and the deficit. when you go back to this idea of compromise, where are you compromising about? these are very tricky times in terms of creating a working coalition on that issue. compromise -- considering the challenges facing the country, which of the following actions do you believe will to the most to help the country improve? we read three separate purchase to this. the number one was growing economy and creating jobs through investments, even if that means continued deficits and tax increases. that

fiscal cliff rather than cave to republican demands for a continued tax break for the wealthiest americans. he made the statement in an interview with cnbc. >> i want to understand the administration's position on raising taxes for the wealthy, those making more than $250,000. if republicans and not agree to that, is the administration prepared to go over the fiscal cliff? >> absolutely. there is no room for an agreement that the not involve the rates going up for the top 2%. >> speaking to a roundtable of corporate executives in washington, president obama said republicans' aid to examine the reality that tax rates will rise for the wealthiest americans. >> we have seen some movement in the last several days with some republicans. there has been a recognition that, maybe, they can accept some rate increases as long as is combined with a serious impediment reform and additional spending cuts. and if we can get the leadership on the republican side to take that kramer, to acknowledge that reality, then the numbers are actually not that far apart. another way of putting this is, we could probabl

social media this afternoon to talk about the fiscal cliff. what's he going to do? >> reporter: i think he's just going to engage with the american public. remember, a key element of the strategy that he's had ever since september of 2011 when the grand bargain talks broke out -- broke down and post-election he's made clear this is going to remain an element of his strategy, is campaigning with the public. he made that trip to pennsylvania last week. he's trying to use the public, which polls show agrees with him on some of the key questions like top rate, to put pressure on the congress to move. we'll see how effective that can be. certainly it hasn't been effecti effective heretofore but it is possible it could and the president believes having won the election he's on the high side. >> 2:00 on twitter. john, thanks very much. >>> one of the overhangs for the fiscal cliff for investors is what will happen on dividend tax rates. more and more corporations aren't waiting to find out exactly what happens with more than $22.5 billion worth of special difficult sends having been announced from 98 companies in the fourth quarter so far. tod

swerve off the road and we do go over the fiscal cliff. there is a big penalty to be paid for it. i think the american people were hoping that both sides would be able to come together. hopefully they will. it's hard to say whether behind the scenes things are better than we think or 0 whether this rile is a titanic battle that is going to be fought out and we're going to go over the cliff. no one knows that for sure yet. jenna: that is the truth. how do you think this sets us up for the year ahead. we have some really big challenges that our don't tree facescountry faces. your thoughts and how big of a role party is in this problem, and in not being able to really get any resolutions, and kick the can down the road. is the party the problem or is it something else? >> i think a lot of it is both parties and problems within both parties. i think a lot of the players that are sitting here already today making these decisions are looking at the 2014 re-election bid, and they are not worried about the other party. their seats are safe for the most part, republican seat versus a democratic challenger. what they

past the financial and to work on the issues americans sent us to do. >> you mentioned the fiscal cliff and i want to ask you about it. president obama even in his p - proposal yesterday had entitlement cuts including to medicare. you have in the past been resistant to cutting entit entitlements. does the result of the election -- i've heard many people on the democratic side say, look, we won. we don't need to make concess n concessions to republicans on entitlements. we can raise the top rates without making these concessions. do you think the president is even in this first proposal giving away too much on the entitlement side? >> i think it's important to note that there's a difference between working to cut medicare and protecting the benefits. and itch said repeatedly that i will not vote to cut the benefits people have earned and depend on because they put those benefits into place, one, this in the middle of a depression, social security, and the other one, medicare, because they were needed. republicans and democrats recognized they needed these programs because people got old

month away from that so-called fiscal cliff. there appears to be very little movement toward any kind of deal. president obama is using the bully-pulpit to appeal to the american people to push for immediate action to push the tax cuts for everybody except for those earning more than $250,000 a year. in his saturday address, he stressed the urgency of the situation. >> if congress does nothing, every family will see their income taxes automatically go up at the beginning of next year. a typical middle-class family of four will see income taxes rise by $2200. we can't let that happen. a families can't afford it and neither can our economy. >> reporter: republicans led by house speaker john boehner says he should quit campaigning and take care of the business at hand. republicans say they are willing to consider raising more revenue but they want to see spending cuts to go along with it. >> we need to hear they are willing to make spending cuts now, not promises of spending cuts sometime if the future. to me the tidal waves that are coming at us is social security and medicare and the new health care law. >> reporter: now house democratic leader nancy pelosi is calling

like what the president has proposed, or if you go over the fiscal cliff full tilt, either way, you will have a recession and president obama's second term starts on a very negative note for the american economy. >> you put your finger on the problem. the point of having these fiscal cliff negotiations is to avoid what could lead to a recession, to avoid a calamity. the proposal your putting forward leaves you with an even worse position than you are now, what is the purpose of this? stuart: stay there for a second. i want to get the company's opinion on the raising of the debt ceiling. it is and abolition of the debt ceiling so the president and borrow whatever he wants without congressional authority. >> extraordinary power grab like we haven't seen in a long time. washington d.c. has been in bubble bland. we are in a government bubble. washington d.c. is disconnected from the reality of real-estate going up but the issue is washington d.c. things we are on the dot dog, or housing bubble from the bubbles stretching back to the 90s. we are no longer there. stuart: i am frightened by no debt ceiling and a person has the authority, will borrow this, just do it. liz: imperial presidency. gerri:

get that. host: a tweet -- now? mike, an independent caller in wisconsin. caller: the fiscal cliff and are 100 trillion dollar debt, mostly it's the fault of the american people. i blame congress in general for not having the courage to tell us the truth, but it is the american people who don't want to deal with that is essentially forcing this thing. host: 1 cumene? hat do you mean? caller: we have unsustainable debt. it has to be reformed. for decades we have been electing politicians will tell us what we want to hear, but we cannot pay for the programs we want. until the american people themselves can deal with the truth, we're not going to solve this. contacting our politicians, offering sacrifice of the programs we like is the only solution. until then, politicians will not have the courage to cut the programs that we simply tell them not to touch. host: here is the editorial in the wall street journal this morning -- rick? caller: it's like a bar tab. we are the runs that ran up the bartec. our grandchildren will ultimately have to pay it until we realize we have to stop drinking and start paying the bill, nothing will happen. host: what should happen t

off the fiscal cliff. the president says the latest republic offer is out of balance because it extends tax cuts on income of above $250,000. g.o.p. leaders claim they can raise revenue without raising rates by closing loopholes and limiting deductions. but the white house says it's about the rates. ed henry is at the white house tonight. the president claims the republic math does not add up. >> that's right, shep. he met with the nation's governors today. he said behind closed doors that there is a lot at stake not just for the national economy but state by state. some of their budgets could take a major hit if, in fact, the nation goes off the so-called fiscal cliff. his spokesman jay carney was even tougher in going after speaker john boehner's latest proposal in saying it simply doesn't add up. >> we don't know who pays. we don't know what we're talking about in terms of actual legislation to increase revenues. it's magic beans and fairy dust. >> the bottom line is the president and speaker boehner have not spoken now in several days. so there is really no signs of progress

he's a here are for -- hero for digging into this stuff. we've got the debate about the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling and we're talking in the trillions. before you can even get to the trillions, if you can't stop stuff like this, does the american public ever believe that washington is going to get its act together if you can't stop this 100,000 here, million there, all, of course, adds up to billions. if we can't stop the zombies, taxpayers paying for the zombies, how can we ever tackle medicare and social security? [laughter] megyn: that's the thing that makes people upset, julie. all right, if you're going to increase my taxes to help pay down the debt, help people in need, that's one thing, but if i'm going to be paying for zombies or for santa to ride the $250,000 sleigh, i object. >> i'm a little embarrassed. can you imagine being an employee and having to pretended to be a zombie? >> those were actors. >> i don't know about that. [laughter] i think they may have been dhs employees dressed up. charles is right, thanksgiving a little ri -- this is a little ridiculous. i understand what they're trying to do, they're trying to get people to be aware of homeland security and preparedness. the cdc did this and crashed their web site

to take americans over the fiscal cliff. >> this is a thelma and louise crowd and want higheraxes and bigger government regardless of the impact on jobs and economy and america's standing in the world. >> gretchen: who could the fiscal cliff jumpers be. matt is editor in chief of the washington weekend. he's my guest. good morning. >> good morning. >> gretchen: who wants to go off of the cliff and die. >> buckle your seat. important senator is patti murray in charge of the democrat campaign committee. she got put in the position thinking it was not a good year for democrats and she turned into one. that gave her clout in the democratic caucus. when she gave a speech saying we could make a more liberal deal if we go off the cliff democrats started listening. >> gretchen: senator harry reid want to go off the cliff. >> he's playing the double game. he want to look like a deal make yer support the president. but so many democrats have a strange idea of compromise. it is all right. give me everything and i will do nothing. what we are seeing from the democrats, republicans you cave on

those american citizens, though, that say, listen, over the fiscal cliff, i'm afraid of that, i don't even want to entertain the possibilities of what that would look like. >> i think when it comes to issues such as the extension of unemployment benefits, social security, medicare, freidman would have argued that it's the better course to cut spending in those areas now rather than defer indefinitely on making real spending cuts. the current agreement was hammered out in august of 2011. what typically happens is that spending cuts are promised in the future, but they never materialize, the taxes are raised anyway. that is exactly what would happen under this circumstance, taxes would be raised, spending cuts would be promised in the future but when that deadline is reached we won't make the spending cuts. so at this point in time what is really being talked about is strictly a tax increase and freidman would have opposed that. jenna: i don't need to tell you that, there's certainly been critics of milton freidman out there. if you take the criticism together this is what they say. the

fiscal cliff? >> i think president obama loves this country and is a patriot and boehner is a patriot and i believe they will work out a deal. if they don't make a deal, 28 million americans will pay alternative minimum tax and families will have their taxes raised $2,000 more and give more in this bad economy. washington, d.c. insider i am the optimist they will work out a deal. jon: she is going with the glass half full approach. i like that. angela mcglowan. >> thank you, jon. jenna: epic journey, not the fiscal cliff, that is epic journey. this epic journey is breaking the boundaries of human endurance. running seven ultramarathons on seven continents in seven days? why did he do it? turns out he was doing good at the same time he was running. we'll speak to him live about his ad venture next. w way. it's called bankamerideals, from bank of america. i choose the cash back deals in my mobile or online banking. i just use my bank of america debit or credit card when i pay. and i get as much as 15% cash back -- put into my account. this is cash back on top of other rewards i already get. best of all -- it's free. happy holidays. [ male announcer ] introducing bankamerideals,

any kind of fiscal cliff deal you have to approach it with a sort of believe everything and believe nothing attitude. i think that everybody wants to avoid having taxes go up for all americans as of january 1st but everybody has a price for that. and it, to me, it's about whether or not both sides are looking for a win-win deal, meaning, my opponent wins and i win. or whether both sides or one of the sides are looking for a deal where only i win and you lose and on top of all of that then we have to look at what do they want to include in any sort of deal? are we going to address entitlement reform? are we going to cut spending? are we only trying to deal with the tax cut issue? will we try to address the debt ceiling issue? so there are a lot of moving parts here. jon: it seems the campaign promise of the president to raise taxes on couples making over $250,000 a year, it seems like that almost has to come true in some form for the president and the democrats to swallow a deal? >> i think so. i think the president has been committed to this from the beginning of his political career. he campaigned on it in his re-election run. and he won and he made it very clear that's what

american history run up under the bush administration. we can roll right over the fiscal cliff, create $607 billion in savings we didn't have before, and we still won't have reduced our annual budget deficit to what was formerly the highest budget deficit in american history before the obama administration. that's how far out of whack we are. i'm not trying to blame the president for that. i think there is some blame here, there is blame everywhere. i only say the obama administration so folks understand this is a problem that has existed as long as i have been alive, we have been running systemic deficits. but in the bush administration we were running the highest deficit in american history and today they are four times larger. and if we roll over the fiscal cliff and everyone says it's going to be so awful, we only solve half the problem. still don't get back to what used to be the most profligate spending days in american history, used to be the largest american deficits in american history, the bush administration. that's number one i want to get from this chart. here's number two, mr. speaker. going back to the grappling with fairness, who we are as a people, what we are about. put up that chart earlier that showed how some folks are getting away wi

. >>> welcome back, everyone. while washington bickers over the fiscal cliff and who's going to pay more in taxes, in great britain, lawmakers are telling some american companies it is time to start paying their fair share there in the uk. even throwing around terms such as shame, outrageous when talking about it. executives from google, amazon, and starbucks all appeared before a parliamentary committee looking into how international companies minimize the tax they pay in the uk. richard quest is in london to explain it all. now, richard, not necessarily talking about tax evasion here. it's more like avoidance, minimization, what's the concern? >> reporter: that's exactly the point. the companies are not breaking the law, not doing anything wrong. the accounts committee described their actions as immoral claiming they have r. so arranging their tax affairs so as to pay no tax in the country where the money is earned. this applies to google, which uses ireland, applies to amazon, on the continent, and it applies to starbucks in amsterdam. what we learned is how these companies arrange their affairs. so even though the latte is bought in london, no tax is ever

us now. >>> americans could be singing the blues if congress doesn't act to avert the fiscal cliff. the longer congress waits the more complicated for businesses to figure out how much to pay workers early next year. the confusion could cost employers money, especially small businesses which use payroll software which takes time away from running their business. starbucks ceo howard schultz agrees. >> this single issue has a seismic affect on the rest of the world that we have never been as connected in the domino effect of a bad outcome here will have significant negative consequences domestically and around the world. >> negative consequences, seismic or not, none is stopping starbucks plans for 1,500 more cafes across america next year. and just as many around the world. but we get his point. >>> speaking of the fiscal cliff, we know what the parameters of a deal in congress will look like, right? on taxes, republicans give in to raise taxes on the wealthiest 2% and democrats will agree to rein in tax breaks, right? democrats are fighting hard to preserve the tax deduction for s

next, the senate debate on the debt ceiling. a joint economic committee hearing on the fiscal cliff. and shaun donovan discusses. ? morning, the national journal on the u.s. economy and a poll on the middle class. live coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. eastern on c-span 2. in the senate today, harry reid and mitch mcconnell went back and forth on fiscal cliff issues. there is part of their exchange. >> yesterday afternoon, i came to the floor and offered president obama's proposal on the fiscal cliff to show that neither he nor democrats in congress are acting in good faith in these negotiations. with just a few weeks ago before a potentially entirely avoidable blow to the economy, the president proposed a plan the members of his own party will even vote for. he is not interested in a balanced agreement, not particularly interested in avoiding the fiscal cliff, and clearly not interested at all in cutting any spending. with the president is really in, as we learned just yesterday, is getting as much taxpayer money as he can, first by raising taxes on small businesses who he believes are

avoid the fiscal cliff. this is the opening play by the president. here is house speaker john boehner who says that weeks of talks have gone nowhere. melissa: two weeks ago we had very product testify conversation at the white house but based on where we stand today i would say two things. first, despite the claims that the president supports a, a balanced approach, the democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts. and secondly, no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the white house and the house over the last two weeks. bill: the speaker considers that just absolutely wasted time. kentucky democratic congressman john yarmouth out of louisville is a member of the house budget committee, sir, thank you for your time. i want to get your perspective on this. good morning to you. melissa: good morning, bill. bill: republicans are not happy. what would you say to your colleagues there? they're charging none of this addresses the problem and the problem they believe is not taxes, it is spending? melissa: well, i have heard that from a lot of my colleagues a

is a dangerous world. we're about to walk off the fiscal cliff. we have people out there trying to undermine our way of life. there is a lot to be afraid of -- al qaeda coming back to our shores, recruiting american citizens to help their endeavors. i hate to say it. in every war we have ever been in, there have been occasions where americans joined the enemy. and in world war ii, that happened. you had german saboteurs land in long island, aided and abetted by american citizens sympathetic to the nazis. all of those american citizens in in re curran were held in military custody and tried by the military because we have long understood that when you join the enemy, that is not a crime but an act of war. we have very bad people who get a right to a jury trial. i will be the first one to say that when you go to court, no matter if you're the worst terrorist in the world, you will get a jury trial, you will get a lawyer and you will have your due process rights. but the difference that i'm trying to inform the body of, when you're fighting a war, the goal is not to prosecute people. the goal is to win. and how do you win a war? you kill them, you capture them and you interrogate them to find out what they'r

republicans for an impasse here and also because spending cuts and tax increases, that fiscal cliff set to kick in at the end of the year, that's going to happen if a deal isn't reached and they feel that that's boxing house republicans in. >> brianna, i'm going to preface this by saying that math is not my forte. however we have 29 days to the fiscal cliff. they go on vacation, break for the holidays on the 15th. so technically we have 12 days to reach a deal. is that enough time? >> you know, there is still time. i think that's the important thing to know. it seems like one of the drops, first off, congressdoesn't like to hang around for christmas. we've learned that from past years. the payroll 2 cut last year out of here before christmas. they don't really like to do that. so i think really it seems the drop is the end of the year. but december 17th, the week before christmas is really seen as a very important week. there's still time to figure this out. anyone on both sides of this equation will tell you they know what the math is, zoraida. even if it's tough for us to understa

. >> reporter: a very different tone on capitol hill as fiscal cliff negotiations remain rocky. the president sent his top negotiator, treasury secretary tim geithner to meet with congressional leaders. afterward, house speaker john boehner said the white house had not proposed spending cuts needed to win critical republican votes. >> i have to tell you, i'm disappointed in where we are, i am disappointed in what's happened in the last couple weeks. >> reporter: senate majority leader harry reid fired back saying democrats put forward a serious plan and ridiculed boehner when asked about the argument that the ball is in the democrats' court. >> i don't understand his brain, so you should ask him. >> reporter: away from the hill, vice president biden took his own steps to push for fiscal cliff compromise, stopping in d.c.'s first costco. warning the economy could suffer greatly if lawmakers can't get a deal done. he proudly flashed his store membership card. >> i went to get my wife's card, she said no, no, no, get your own. >> reporter: according to sources at the white house and on